Lorraine and Rodney Lohse, the principals of Cooloola Retirement Resort at Tin Can Bay, 80km north of Noosa, have called in the liquidators, Worrells, because they don’t have the cash to buy back homes under the QLD government's new buyback rules.
A small 45-villa village in an idyllic location, it offers both strata and lease licence contracts and 100% capital gain, with homes starting at $300,000.
We are reliably informed there are at least five other village operators looking to ‘hand back the keys’, unable to fund the buybacks.
Check the PresCare story for this week here and last week’s here, where they have called in restructuring specialists McGrathNichol and their announcement this week:
“The operations of PresCare have required substantial funding from the church and a recent review reveals further funding will be required that is beyond the resources of the PCQ.”
In July last year, law firm MinterEllison informed us that on the first day of the 18 months rule, $30 million passed through their clients to departed residents or their families – highlighting the challenge for the sector.
The Retirement Living Council (RLC) and LASA have both sought relief from the Government given the sales challenge of COVID but the response has been for operators to seek exemption under hardship rules. The concern is to activate this exemption communicates to residents, potential buyers and the banks that the operator is in trouble. It has not been taken up.
See this story for the latest on buybacks – this time NSW.
